Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
State Takes over Houston’s Hurricane Harvey Home Repair Program
Oct 12 2020 // All Houston, Texas, resident Alice Torres has wanted in the three years since Hurricane Harvey hit was to repair her family’s flood-damaged home so her 85-year-old mother can feel safe and settled again. But when her...
AccuRisk’s Share of Texas Non-Subscriber Market to Grow with Acquisition
Oct 12 2020 // Chicago-based managing general underwriter, AccuRisk Solutions LLC, is set to acquire the renewal rights to Great American Insurance Group’s book of Texas occupational illness and injury non-subscription...
From Wildfires to Sally to China Floods, September Was a Disastrous Month
Oct 9 2020 // Third quarters are often the costliest of the year in terms natural disasters. Insurance broker Aon’s monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, which evaluates the impact of the natural disaster events that occurred...
Update: Louisiana Residents Flee as Delta Bears Down on U.S. Gulf Coast
Oct 8 2020 // 10/09/2020 10:41 AM LAKE CHARLES, La., Oct 9 — The streets in Lake Charles in southwest Louisiana were deserted as a powerful Hurricane Delta approached, threatening to add misery to people struggling to recover from the...
Texas Surplus Lines Stamping Fee to Decrease in January
Oct 6 2020 // The stamping fee for recording surplus lines insurance policies in Texas will drop from the current rate of 0.15% of gross premium to 0.075% in January. The request by the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) to...
Judge Tosses Case Over Texas Chemical Plant Fire During Harvey
Oct 5 2020 // A judge has dismissed the criminal case against a chemical manufacturer and one of its former employees over a fire at its plant near Houston during Hurricane Harvey, saying prosecutors failed to present sufficient...
5th Circuit Backs Plaintiffs in Insurer Interest Penalty Case
Oct 5 2020 // A Houston plaintiff’s attorney defeated State Farm Lloyd’s for the fourth time on the same issue, this time coming away with a federal appellate court ruling that policyholders don’t have to prove that...
Hyperactive Hurricane Season Highlights Need for Flood Insurance
Oct 5 2020 // Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the central Texas coast on Sept. 21 as the 23rd named storm of the hyperactive 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and the third to hit the Gulf Coast this year. Slow moving Beta dumped...
Texas’ Blue Bell Creameries to Pay $17.25M in Criminal Penalties for Listeria Outbreak
Oct 5 2020 // Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries L.P. has been ordered to pay $17.25 million in criminal penalties for shipments of contaminated ice cream products linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak, according to the U.S. Justice...
Vermont Department of Economic Development Hires Nevins
Oct 1 2020 // The Vermont Department of Economic Development (DED) has hired Brittany Nevins as the new Captive Insurance Economic Development director. She replaces Ian Davis, Vermont’s former director of Financial...
Texas Workers’ Comp Networks Have Lower Medical Costs Than Non-Networks
Sep 30 2020 // Texas workers’ compensation claims handled through health care networks have lower medical costs than those managed outside networks, a state report finds. The Texas Department of Insurance has published its 2020...
Purging Texas Water System of Brain-Eating Microbe to Take 60 Days
Sep 30 2020 // A Houston-area official says it will take 60 days to ensure a city drinking water system is purged of a deadly, microscopic parasite that doctors believed killed a boy and that led to warnings for others not to drink tap...
The State of Surplus Lines Insurance: Busy Solving Risk Puzzles in a Complex World
Sep 30 2020 // Insurance professionals in the surplus lines sector are busy. Busy adapting to a changing business world during COVID-19. Busy adapting to a changing property/casualty market where standard lines insurers are steadfastly...
Texas Records $717.76M in Surplus Lines Premium in August
Sep 30 2020 // The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) recorded $717.76M in Texas surplus lines premium during the month of August. SLTX said the premium recorded year to date through August represents an 11.1% increase over...
Agents Warned of ‘Creative’ Attorneys, Virus Lawsuits
Sep 30 2020 // Agents and brokers should be on alert that plaintiffs’ attorneys in COVID-19 related business interruption claims lawsuits may be eyeing them as more cases against insurance companies begin to fail and claimants...
Texas Commissioner Sullivan: Thanks for Making My Time at TDI Memorable
Sep 29 2020 // Shortly after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the Texas coast in 2017, Governor Abbott asked me to lead TDI. It was a challenging time, but it was an honor to serve. As I look back, I’m a bit surprised that my short-term...
Deadly Microbe Water Warning Lifted for Final Texas City
Sep 29 2020 // Environmental officials in Texas have lifted a warning for a final Houston-area community to stop using tap water because it might be tainted with a deadly brain-eating microbe, but with a warning that the water should be...
Close Call with Laura Renewed Debate over Houston Storm Surge Barrier
Sep 29 2020 // Houston, a Gulf Coast city that barely rises above sea level, has long worried about a worst-case weather scenario — a direct hit from a powerful storm that sends a wall of water barreling into the region’s...
NFP Acquires Hutch Hubby & Associates in Austin
Sep 29 2020 // National insurance broker NFP has acquired the Austin, Texas-based employee benefits firm, Hutch Hubby & Associates. The acquisition is NFP’s third in central Texas in 2020. The firm’s principal, L. Hutch...
Warning for Deadly Microbes in Water Lifted for All But 1 Texas City
Sep 28 2020 // Texas officials have lifted a warning for all but one Houston-area community to stop using tap water because it might be tainted with a deadly brain-eating microbe. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality warned the...
